Searching For Release
by AnnabelleRivers
Summary: Touch was a powerful tool for healing. A lesson she had learned when her own mother had been ripped from the world. Only what she offered was safe, without strings or expectations.


_My love, leave yourself behind_  
 _Beat inside me, leave you blind_  
 _My love, you have found peace_  
 _You were searching for release._

 _-Sia_

* * *

When Hannah Abbott opened her door to see another weary wizard standing on the front stoop, albeit this one much more expected than others had been, she realized she was starting to get a reputation.

It had all started rather innocently, a friend helping another in the middle of the night as they held each other and cried for hours over classmates and families gone from the world. She had only wanted to offer him the comfort others hadn't been able to and to give into the emotions already building up inside them both.

Touch was a powerful tool for healing. A lesson she had learned when her own mother had been ripped from the world. Only what she offered was safe, without strings or expectations.

The first person had been George Weasley. Although she hadn't really known him other than from casual glances at school at his widely known reputation of creating havoc with his twin. The twin who was no more.

Hannah remembered watching his face closely during the funeral. The way his face twitched with unspoken emotion without a single tear. She knew then.

It had taken George only two days after that before he showed up, late into the night wat her family's summer home, the letter she slipped into his pocket clutched tightly in his hand. Her invitation to a place away from the magical and Muggle worlds alike written in burgundy ink upon the parchment.

They had crashed into each other, arms and legs and lips and hair and tears all entwined.

She had tried to leave him alone the next morning, packing her bags quickly and quietly while he stood awkwardly in the corner. A timid offer for him to _keep the place to himself for as long as he wanted_ went unheard as he continued to stare at her with an entire world of emotion swirling in his wide eyes.

That might have been the end of it had her hand not reached out and offered him a comforting pat on the arm. One touch that soon turned into two wounded people pressing close together in a desperate need to turn internal pain into external pleasure once again. He had keened for nearly a full day afterward, tears mixing with her own as they worked through their grief together.

Ernie McMillan had come by next. His smile more hesitant than she'd ever seen it as she took his hand and led him inside. Their night together had been so different than the fumbling evenings back at Hogwarts, both so much older from the weariness of a childhood ending in war. He had stayed for much longer the next morning, helping her with chores around her home as if he was delaying the moment he would have to step back out into the realities of what laid beyond her door.

When Draco Malfoy knocked next, his usual arrogance nowhere to be found as he bowed his head down and asked in a shaky whisper to be let in. Hannah hadn't paused to wonder why and welcomed the broken Slytherin inside. Their time has lasted for nearly a week, revealing a tenderness in Draco she guessed most never would know.

She'd always wanted to be a healer, the nagging voice in her mind reminding her of it as months kept passing by with her not seeking the formal training. Hannah spent her time instead tending to the herb gardens around her home, gathering them for various balms that were smoothed into the knotted backs of her occasional grief-stricken visitors.

Grief was normal to her now. Almost comforting. It had been following her around her years now, like a shadow that was always there even when it couldn't be seen in the light. At first, she had fought against it forcing smiles on her face and giggle out her mouth as if launching a defense against the enemy she made of sadness. Now, she embraced it, putting grief into human form as she opened her home and arms to those still struggling.

Here was another one- not a surprise since the young man as the young man with a mess of black hair and emerald green eyes had been a topic of discussion. The others had mentioned concern for him, even Draco, but it was the one who loved him the most who had sent him her way. The glint of his wedding band in the afternoon sun caught her eye. No one had ever come married before but that was her burden to bear, not his. She could help him without letting her heart get too involved.

Harry Potter was clearly nervous, fidgety even, which was probably to be expected.

She smiled at him, hoping he would return it but not chiding him for it when he did not.

"Welcome to my home, Harry."

* * *

 _My love, leave yourself behind_  
 _Beat inside me, leave you blind_  
 _My love, look what you can do_  
 _I am mending, I'll be with you_

 _-Sia_

* * *

When Harry Potter first saw her in the open doorway, her warm smile and flower patterned apron creating the perfect look of comfort as the smell of freshly baked bread hit his nostrils, he realized how easy it must be to want to stay here forever.

Instant memories surfaced of huddling on the floor in front of the Mirror of Erised, his eagerness to feel happy outweighing the pain of the stone floor digging into his knees. He had always been a fool for wanting to feel safe and cared for.

It had all started with his own wife's suggestion after nights spent screaming at one another had left them feeling empty and resentful.

They both needed a break. _A rest,_ she had assured him before setting off her own training camp and leaving him alone to make the final choice. Harry wondered why he didn't feel more worried about Ginny sending him into the arms of another woman but he left anyway, resolved to see it though.

George Weasley had been the first one to tell him about this place. George had come after Fred's funeral when Percy and him had stopped talking again. They both blamed themselves but took it out on each other. At least that's what Luna had said one night after a particularly painful Weasley family dinner. Harry knew George had gone away for a few weeks after that, returning with a spark to him that had seemed lost before.

Ernie McMillan had suggested it next. Harry _almost_ liked worked alongside him after he'd come back. The nervous chattering was gone and a confidence he hadn't known the other wizard to have replaced it.

Then there had been Draco Malfoy passing him a note as they walked passed each other at the Ministry with the address written on it. The old rivalry was gone at least, both wizards traded nods instead of sneers now. A few more had told him before Ginny got involved, all of them coming back looking more like themselves before the war. Sometimes Harry wondered what he'd look like if he could remove the hard lines in his forehead and the nearly constant bags under his eyes.

The thing of it was, Harry was used to feeling this way- badly. _Volatile_ , Hermione had called it. _Unbearable_ , Ginny had replied.

Feeling angry and sad and guilty all at once now seemed normal to him. For the longest time, there had been others to blame for how he felt. Voldemort mainly, but now it was all over and the emotions that had fueled him during those years seemed to be more in the way of him actually living life.

Now that he was here, Harry could feel something almost start to release, a pressure he hadn't known was there, as he watched Hannah bake her bread. Her hands kneading the dough almost felt like they were on his back, losing knots he'd carried for so long. He remembered something George had said about the way she used to magic.

Hannah's smile as she plucked herbs to mix into the dough made him smile too, the corners of his mouth lifting almost hesitantly from such little use. It was something. Something more than he'd had before. He wished she could be Ginny and then could feel a twist in his gut to wish that one woman was the other.

Days melted away in her company but the thing he had expected to happen never quite did. They shared a bed a night, her body curling around his as tears he couldn't admit to fell onto the pillow. It was then that he wished Hannah could be his wife instead, the hurt from those intrusive thoughts adding to his weeping.

In the mornings, he would wake up alone, wondering if this was some part of Hannah's plan. It didn't feel as good as he imagined it. He was calm, that was a gift, but there a nagging in his brain that there something more he should be feeling. Or maybe that she should be feeling, the blonde witch who seemed more detached from him as their time together stretched on.

On the fifth day, he stood again by the front door. This time, they seemed reversed. His head was held high, a smile coming easily now while her face was ducked away from him. He reached for her, stopping short when he saw his own hand and the wedding band that clearly marked the line Ginny and he should have never crossed.

"Please leave my home, Harry," she whispered at last and moved to close the door.

Only he'd never been known to let good enough be. Harry pushed back, watching closely as her brown eyes widened before finally the smile he'd come to relish came back.

They didn't speak another word as he pulled her into a gentle kiss, all thoughts and worries of what he should do or should not do melting away as their lips met. This kiss was better than any he'd ever had before with Ginny but that was his burden to bear, not hers. As he felt his own heart react to having her so close, he hoped hers was beating harder for him, too.

"May I stay a little while longer?" The question came out shakier than it was in his head. She didn't seem to mind as another bright smile rewarded him for asking.

Hannah sighed and ran her fingers through his hair. "Welcome home."

* * *

 ** _Thank you._**


End file.
